


The Tingler

by katling



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Anal Sex, M/M, Smut, depends whether your mind is in the gutter or not, it's not that kind of ring, magic rings, not that kind of ring, this fic is in the gutter, well maybe that kind of ring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-17 20:21:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4680077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katling/pseuds/katling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Okay, so… <a href="http://cullrianprompts.tumblr.com/post/126795468794/negativeonetwelfth-foxghost-squints-at">this particular post</a> has been doing the rounds that references a ring you can find in DA:O and ended up as a prompt. My mind liked it. My mind is weird. I… just have no excuses for this one. Oh, please go and look at the post before reading. </p>
<p>Suffice to say, Dorian finds a ring. Cullen knows what it is. They both benefit from that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Tingler

Cullen almost doesn’t notice the ring at first. It’s nothing out of ordinary after all. A simple gold ring with no artifice or adornment on it. It’s even a little old and tarnished in places. It’s not exactly Dorian’s usual style but he just assumes that the ring has some sort of magical benefit that overrides its plain exterior. It’s not until they’re lying in bed, sweaty and sated and just a little sleepy, that he realises that Dorian is still wearing it. Which is unusual. He normally takes his rings off before they get started, part of his ritual of undressing that Cullen likes to watch and rarely likes to hurry. Watching Dorian get undressed is a treat in and of itself.

He rubs a finger over the ring and that fading part of him that is still a Templar despite the lack of lyrium feels the faint hum of magic in the ring.

“You didn’t take this off.”

It’s an observation, nothing more, but Dorian flushes anyway.

“I… yes.” 

The flush deepens and Cullen is more amused than anything else. Dorian isn’t usually one for blushing unless Cullen has said something very syrupy and very sincere and Dorian has gotten past the syrupy part to realise the sincerity. Cullen’s sincerity always makes Dorian blush.

“It feels rather nice,” Dorian says, still looking somewhat embarrassed. “Wearing it, I mean.”

Cullen eyes the ring curiously. There’s something knocking at the edge of his mind but it’s not loud enough to distract him yet. “How so?”

“It makes my hand… tingle,” Dorian admits, looking somewhat irritated that he can’t find a better word. “All warm and tingly.” He frowns a little and snuggles closer to Cullen, who obliges the unspoken request and wraps his arms around the mage a little tighter. “I found it tucked away in a drawer in the bedroom of one of those rather creepy abandoned houses in the Emerald Graves. Did you know it resized itself when I put it on?”

The niggle at the back of Cullen’s mind suddenly becomes a shout. Warm and tingly, resizing itself magically, plain and simple but a little battered and tarnished as though it’s seen hard use. He knows what it is but clearly Dorian doesn’t.

“Ah, Dorian?” he says in a strangled tone that has Dorian worming around in his embrace until they’re facing each other. Cullen has gone a rather spectacular shade of crimson and he knows it.

“What?” Dorian says curiously. Cullen is prone to blushing at all sorts of things but this is a shade he’s rarely seen before and only ever when something particularly kinky in regards to sex has come up in conversation. He can’t imagine what has prompted it now.

“You…” Cullen pauses and licks his lips. Now that he knows what Dorian has found, his mind is going into overdrive and despite the fact they’ve just had sex and he’s not a young man anymore and thus his recovery time isn’t what it used to be, he knows it’s not going to be too long before his dick starts taking a keen interest in these matters. “… really don’t know what that ring is? Do… do they not have them in Tevinter?”

Dorian frowns. He seems more baffled than anything else. “It’s… a ring. It seems to add a little to my strength and recovery. What… Cullen?”

Cullen feels like his face is about to combust and he wonders if he’s moved past crimson and somewhere into purple.

“Uh… we used to confiscate them all the time in the Circle in Fereldan but I think they must be fairly easy to make since they kept popping up.” Cullen knows he’s babbling but he can’t seem to stop. “They’re not dangerous but if the charms aren’t done well, they can be… um… embarrassing. The healers used to get quite… exasperated.”

Dorian is still more baffled than anything else and he holds out his hand to examine the ring. “So what is it?”

Cullen opens his mouth to reply but nothing comes out for a moment. He clears his throat and licks his lips again.

“It’s… well…” He pauses and takes a deep breath and when he speaks again, the words come out all rushed. “It’snotmeanttobewornonthehand.”

Dorian just blinks as he parses out that garbled mess. “Then where is meant to be worn?”

“On your… uh…” Cullen gestures downwards. He wasn’t anywhere near a virgin before he and Dorian got together and he’s never been hesitant to either participate in or initiate sex once he was certain Dorian returned his feelings but _talking_ about it has never been something he’s _ever_ been good at. “It’s a…” He gulps and forces the words out. “It’s a cock ring.”

For a moment Dorian’s expression is utterly blank then he stares at Cullen like he’s making fun of him.

“It’s a _what_?”

Cullen swallows. “It’s a cock ring. The… the mages called them Tinglers.”

As he watches, Dorian stares at the ring on his finger in disbelief then he flushes again and a wicked calculating look takes up residence in his eyes. He slowly pulls the ring off his finger and holds it between them.

“Oh, _really_?” he says with barely concealed delight. “And do they work well?”

“I… uh… don’t know,” Cullen replies. “I’ve… never used one.”

He knows it’s a mistake the moment the words are out of his mouth but he can’t take them back now. The look on Dorian’s face is one of unholy glee and he feels that he’s in entirely too deep in this… whatever it is… they haven’t talked about it and Cullen’s certain that using the word ‘relationship’ would make Dorian run a mile at this point in… well, their relationship. But whatever they want to classify it as, he knows he’s in too deep when his only reaction to that look on Dorian’s face is to get ridiculously, embarrassingly hard.

Dorian realises this immediately of course. With the way they’re pressed together, there was no way he could miss it. Cullen would groan and swear at the way Dorian’s face lights up with an even unholier glee than before but he’s too busy trying to slow down his heart rate and stop himself from grinding his cock against Dorian’s hip.

He barely has time to notice the way Dorian is concentrating – _it’s his ‘I’m trying to figure out this magical mystery’ face, Cullen’s seen it a thousand times before, it doesn’t bode well now though, if he’s figured out how the ring works, Cullen knows because the Templars all got a crash course in the way the rings work and the ways they can go wrong, an embarrassing and mortifying discussion from Knight-Commander Gregoir himself that killed any potential arousal in an instant_ – before Dorian’s hand is diving down below the blanket that was half-heartedly pulled over them. 

His protestation is cut off by the feel of Dorian’s hand on his cock and the slippery, slithery sensation of the ring expanding and sliding down until it’s nestled at the base of his cock where it tightens _just right_ and starts to _work_ and he can only throw his head back and moan.

“Amatus?” Dorian murmurs, his hands now caressing Cullen’s face, neck, chest. He sounds worried and Cullen collects himself enough to kiss him. It’s a heated, messy kiss, their teeth clashing momentarily before Dorian cups his jaw and controls it, turns it into something that has Cullen bucking against the other man.

“S’good,” Cullen slurs and rolls onto his back, pulling Dorian on top of him. Dorian undulates his hips experimentally and Cullen arches into the touch. He can _feel_ the ring working, sending that warm tingling sensation up his cock and into the pit of his stomach. “Fuck me, Dorian.”

Dorian groans now and buries his face in Cullen’s neck, his hips still undulating against Cullen’s. They don’t often do this. Not because neither of them like it, Cullen likes both giving and taking and so does Dorian but for all that he does like both, Dorian has a preference for being fucked. Slow, fast, rough, gentle, he doesn’t mind and Cullen has no objection to indulging Dorian’s desires. In fact, if Dorian has a preference for being fucked, Cullen has a preference for giving Dorian whatever he wants. He wouldn’t call it a kink or a fetish but he has the impression that in the past Dorian has… taken whatever he can get, irrespective of his own wants or desires. It makes Cullen’s heart hurt just to think about that so he… gives Dorian what he wants. It’s not exactly a hardship.

Dorian pulls away just enough to start groping for the vial of oil they’d discarded earlier that evening. When he finds it, there’s barely anything left and Dorian starts to swear. They have more… just not in Cullen’s room. 

Cullen catches his hand and pulls the vial free before offering it again. “S’okay. Don’t need it,” he gasps. “Use it on… on yourself.”

Dorian stills for just long enough to force Cullen to concentrate on something other than the sensations the ring is causing.

“Cullen…” Dorian begins and Cullen shakes his head.

“It…” He groans and tries to concentrate on what Gregoir had told them all those years ago. “You have… enough healing magic. Use it. The ring… you won’t hurt me.” He pulls Dorian into a quick kiss and smiles. “Trust me. I know these rings.”

As an extra incentive he spreads his legs and bucks up into Dorian. It’s enough and Dorian pulls away, lurching up onto his knees as he uncorks the vial. He pours what remains in there onto his hand and slicks himself quickly before tossing the vial aside. It clatters on the floor but neither of them pay any attention. Instead Dorian leans forwards and presses the tip of his cock into Cullen’s entrance. He’s still not certain but Cullen is, he knows what these rings do, so he cups Dorian’s cheek with one hand and smiles.

“Trust me.”

It’s enough. If Dorian knows one thing about Cullen, it’s that he doesn’t take chances around magic. If he’s sure this will work then, well, Dorian will trust him. He lets the little healing magic he knows flow as he presses into Cullen. It’s tight, almost painfully tight, but Cullen gasps and relaxes around him and though Dorian watches for it, there’s not a hint of pain on the other man’s face as he slides in until he’s pressed tight against Cullen.

He let his head drop onto Cullen’s shoulder, realising only then that he’s gasping for breath and close… so _close_ … with Cullen’s tight heat around his slick cock. He forces himself to wait. He wants this to last, he wants to take it slow, he wants Cullen mindless and begging underneath him, unable to come until Dorian lets him. When he feels like he has some semblance of control, he bites down on Cullen’s shoulder. The man jolts underneath him like he’s been electrified and makes a mewling whine that has Dorian moving before he can even think about it. 

He moves slowly, dragging himself out until just the head of his cock is still inside Cullen’s body then pushing slowly back in again. Every time he pushes back in, he sends a small wave of healing magic through the other man. It has an astonishing effect. It’s almost as though the healing magic is amplifying the ring’s effects in some way. Cullen is soon arching and writhing underneath him, reducing to little more than whines and moans and garbled sounds that might be Dorian’s name and the words ‘please’ and ‘more’ and ‘need’ and ‘come’.

Dorian isn’t sure if that last one is directed at him or about what Cullen wants. Probably both. But Dorian can feel the slow inexorable rise of his own orgasm as he continues that same infinitely slow rhythm. He doesn’t try and fight it. It’s going to come in its own time. _He’s_ going to come and he’s not going to be able to stop it or control it. He’s almost afraid as much as he is anticipating it. He’s never done this before, never drawn it out like this, never just taken his time, never reduced someone to a quivering mess the way he has with Cullen right now. 

When he comes, it doesn’t crash over him like it usually does, quick and hot, with a curse and a gasp. It’s slow and almost tidal in nature. It washes over him and whites him out and he knows he cries out something, whether it’s wordless or Cullen’s name or something else, he can’t say, his ears are ringing and his heart is thumping loudly enough to drown out anything. He collapses, boneless and satiated in a way he’s never been before, every limb feels limp, every joint like jelly. His mind is a noiseless hush for once, no thoughts to beleaguer or bother him.

It takes a while to realise that Cullen is still moving beneath him. Small movements of his hips accompanied by desperate whimpers, his hands drifting aimlessly, fluttering over Dorian’s back and neck and through his hair.

“Dorian. _Please_ ,” he whimpers and Dorian realises that because of the ring, Cullen hasn’t come yet but he’s desperate to by the look and sound of him.

Dorian presses a kiss against Cullen’s neck then licks the sweaty skin. He forces himself to move, gathering himself up and slowly pulling out then kissing and licking his way across Cullen’s chest and stomach, sucking on his nipples, leaving small biting bruises on the pale skin. Cullen gasps and writhes underneath him, his hips moving constantly, seeking pressure and completion. His cock is hard and red and weeping, the gold ring almost glowing against his skin.

“Dor… Dorian,” Cullen gasps, his hands clutching at Dorian’s shoulder. He’s trying to shove Dorian down, where he wants him, but his coordination is lost and he can do little more than ineffectively nudge and grab.

Dorian chuckles, a dark, rich sound that has Cullen moaning his name. “What do you want, Amatus?’ he teases, pressing his lips to Cullen’s hip bone.

“Want… _need_ … to come.”

There’s no blush, no stammering, no hesitation. Cullen is so far beyond any of that and as much as Dorian adores the blushing and stammering, this has its pleasures as well.

“And how would you like that to happen?” he asks slyly.

Cullen whines and his hands flutter on Dorian’s shoulders as though he’s not sure what to do with them. He tries to buck up, to grind himself against whatever part of Dorian he can but Dorian grabs his hips and presses them down into the bed. Cullen whines again and his hands now grab at the sheets, fisting into them desperately.

“Need… hand… mouth… _anything_.”

Dorian chuckles then takes pity on his lover. He sucks a bruise into Cullen’s hip then licks a line up his cock. Cullen _howls_ Dorian’s name and the mage is certain every damn soldier on the battlements must have heard _that_. He smirks smugly, possessively. Let them hear. They now know who is here in this room, in this bed with their Commander. Let them hear that and speculate and come up with their own little mental images as to what is happening to make themselves uncomfortable and unable to look their Commander in the eye in the morning. Let them know who brings their Commander that much pleasure. Let them know it’s _him_ and no one else, certainly not _them_. He’s seen their admiration, he’s heard their comments but their Commander is _his_ and will never be _theirs_.

He rewards that howl of his name, that unthinking boast of who the Commander receives his pleasure from, by all but devouring Cullen’s cock. The Commander’s cries are loud and almost mindless, Dorian’s name, curses and finally begging to let him come, please, now, Dorian please.

Dorian let’s his fingers run along the warm gold of the ring and for a moment he lets them linger then he releases the flicker of magic needed to make the ring loosen and _sucks_ , his hands hard and bruising on Cullen’s hips and as he exerts his strength so as to ensure the man doesn’t choke him.

Cullen _screams_ as he comes and comes and comes. Dorian swallows what he can and lets the rest dribbles out of his mouth and down Cullen’s cock. It’s messy and _glorious_ and when Cullen finishes, he watches as the warrior goes limp on the bed, gasping and red-faced, covered in sweat. Dorian licks his lover clean, the action gaining him tiny noises of contentment, before he gently removes the ring from Cullen’s cock and sets it carefully on the bedside table. He then curls around his lover and caresses his chest and stomach as he waits for Cullen to come back to himself.

Cullen hopes that their enemies don’t choose this moment to spring a surprise attack on Skyhold because he doesn’t think he could move even if he wanted to. The lassitude brought on by the most astonishing orgasm he’s ever experienced has him limp and relaxed more than he’d ever thought possible. However he forces his arm to come up and around Dorian’s shoulder. He turns his head and presses a kiss against his temple.

Dorian snuggles against him and kisses him back. “Alright there?” he says with an air of smugness that Cullen really can’t argue with for once.

“Very much so,” he says with a satisfied slur to his voice.

There’s a moment of silence and when Dorian speaks again, there’s laughter rippling through his voice.

“I’m afraid we may have made the soldiers on the battlements a tad bit uncomfortable.”

It takes a moment for the meaning behind that to sink into Cullen’s mind and his first reaction is to be embarrassed but that dies very quickly. To be embarrassed about what they had just done would be tantamount to being embarrassed about his entire relationship with Dorian. He doesn’t want to hide what they have. He’s not above some _discretion_ , which they have apparently thrown out the window tonight, but he’s not ashamed of Dorian.

“They’ll live,” he says dryly.

He smiles at Dorian’s startled look and brushes his fingers over the mage’s cheek. “I’m not ashamed of us or anything we do, Dorian. I care about you. I…” He hesitates for a moment then decides he might as well toss himself into the deep end. “I love you.”

Dorian tenses against him and he wonders for a moment whether the man is going to run away. But he doesn’t. He relaxes and smiles, a little sweetly and a lot like he doesn’t entirely believe what Cullen has just said.

“The things you say.”

Cullen caresses his cheek again. “I mean it. I love you.” He smiles. “I don’t expect you to say that back. If you do, I want you to feel the same. I can wait.”

Dorian swallows, his expression open and honest and hesitant in a way Cullen had only seen a few times before. All of Dorian’s many walls were down right now and this was the man behind all of those defences.

Cullen placed a finger over Dorian’s mouth. “I can wait.”

Dorian smiles back at him. It’s sweet and a little melancholy and the most beautiful smile Cullen has ever seen on Dorian’s face. The mage pulls his hand away and kisses him. He doesn’t say anything but settles down again, curled around him and holding onto to him as though he expects Cullen to get up and walk away. He knows there’s no way to convince Dorian he’s not going to do that except by his actions. So he wraps his arms around the other man and sighs happily. He’s going to have a cadre of soldiers who will refuse to look at him tomorrow and who will blush and stammer as much he so often does and they will spread the gossip of what they heard and what they think it means to all and sundry and by tomorrow night, _everyone_ in Skyhold will know and the teasing will commence.

But he doesn’t care. 

“Don’t tell anyone about the ring,” he murmurs on the edge of sleep.

Dorian sounds about the same when he replies. “Why not?” 

“They’ll all want one.” Cullen yawns and curls closer. “We are _not_ loaning it out.”

Dorian chuckles. “Fair enough.”

Cullen makes a satisfied noise and lets sleep claim him. He suspects there will be no nightmares tonight and not just because he’s just had his brains fucked out. He’s finally told Dorian how he feels and the man didn’t run. The contentment from that alone would be enough.


End file.
